Bengaluru is the second most congested city among major metros of Southeast Asia, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Manila, warns a recent survey. And the situation will only get worse if measures are not taken to check it.

The survey by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) measures the response from 300 commuters in each of the growing cities — New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru — and compares them with indicators from global cities in Southeast Asia.

According to the analysis, road congestion in peak hours in the four Indian cities averages at 149%, making commuting that much harder. Commuters spend 1.5 times longer to travel a given distance in peak hours when compared with non-peak hour travel time.

The survey shows that 89% of the respondents in Bengaluru and Kolkata plan to buy a car in the next five years, which is set to worsen the situation. However, reducing peak hour congestion is a huge challenge considering that about half of the population in these cities plans to buy cars in the next five years.

Kannada organisations on Wednesday extended their support to the Karnataka bandh called on January 25, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervene to find a solution to the Mahadayi issue.

Speaking to reporters, Vatal Nagaraj of Kannada Okkuta said all Kannada organisations, the Kannada filmdom, hotel owners and educational institutions should support the bundh. Goa Irrigation Minister Vinod Palyekar should apologise for his derogatory comments against Kannadigas, he added.

Vatal Nagaraj is a pioneer of sorts. Being a hardcore bengalurian, he foresaw danger to kannada , kannadigas and Karnataka from outside migrants. This was about 4 decades back…..he conceived Kannada Chaluvali (Kannada Campaign) and started a party called Kannada Chaluvali Paksha. He was MLA from this party…

He is one person in Karnataka who surfaces whereever or whenever Kannada stakes are involved. At the same time he never hobnobbed with mainstream parties, never sought power, nor got into any communal / political issues…

Now in his mid-sixties, he is the natural accepted leader for the thousand plus kannada outfits batting for Kannada and Kannadigas.

Because of his sheer perseverance in espousing kannada causes, he has become some kind of hated/feared person among migrants eventhough there is no any record of Vatal rabble rousing or inciting violence or hatred for other communities. All he does is putting forward the kannada perspective, never uses inflammatory words nor high decibel speeches.